Experts from the United States, Canada
and Europe offer a fish-eye's view of habitat and how human and
natural events affect where fish live, in a book recently published
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National
Sea Grant College Program and the nonprofit American Fisheries
Society.

The book, Fish Habitat: Essential Fish
Habitat and Restoration, is the proceedings from a Sea Grant-sponsored
symposium held at the AFS's 1998 annual meeting. Colorful fish
and a heron adorn the cover of the book, which was edited by
Lee Benaka, the first AFS/Sea Grant Fellow. Benaka, a fisheries
specialist with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,
is working with NOAA's National
Marine Fisheries Service, which also provided funding for
the book's publication.

The 27 chapters, written by scientists,
fisheries managers, environmentalists, and industry representatives,
describe habitat identification, fishing and nonfishing impacts,
and rehabilitation and socioeconomic issues, as they affect the
Great Lakes as well as coastal regions. Intensive fishing all
over the world has caused the depletion of some fish stocks and
the decline of others. Essential fish habitat is seen as a way
to restore and maintain healthy fish stocks.

In his foreword, Ronald C. Baird, director
of the National Sea Grant
College Program, writes:" This volume...represents the
tentative first steps in setting a national agenda on essential
fish habitat that could determine in large measure the tempo
and mode of this country's evolution toward the integrated management
of coastal and marine environments."

Copies of the book can be ordered from
the AFS by
calling (412) 741-5700. The hardcover, 459-page book is $34 for
AFS members and $55 for non-members.

NOAA's mission is to describe and predict changes in
the Earth's environment and to conserve and manage wisely the
nation's coastal and marine resources.